Ranhofer was the author of The Epicurean (1894),[1] an encyclopedic cookbook of over 1,000 pages, similar in scope to Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire.

Ranhofer was sent to Paris at the age of 12 to begin his training by studying pastry-making, and at 16 became the private chef for the Prince d'Hénin, Comte d'Alsace.

He returned to France in 1860 for a short time, where he arranged balls for the court of Napoleon III at the Tuileries Palace, but then came back to New York to work at what was then a fashionable location, Maison Dorée.

He was the chef at Delmonico's until his retirement in 1896, except for a short hiatus from 1876 to 1879 when he owned the Hotel American at Enghien-les-Bains.

He died at home of Bright's Disease in October, 1899 and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.